The present invention relates to a system for the conditioning of various crops or foliage as the crop is cut in the field, for use in the agricultural and farming industry. The conditioning facilitates the removal of moisture from the crop, reducing drying time, and allows the crop to be further handled sooner.
When a crop such as hay or alfalfa is cut in the field, a windrower or swather is generally utilized. The windrower typically includes cutting surfaces to sever the fiber of the crop and the cut crop is left in a row in the field to dry before it is bailed or otherwise handled.
The time that it takes the crop to dry in the field before it can be bailed or further handled can become critical. It is very important to shorten that time as much as possible to avoid numerous problems that may be encountered with the crop.
Devices referred to as conditioners are generally utilized to reduce the moisture in the crop, and/or to facilitate the faster drying of the crop. Conditioners are oftentimes mounted on a windrower, mower or other device, or they may be a separate unit. Conditioners currently available typically crimp and/or break down the stem of the hay and assist in the removal, or the facilitation of the moisture, in the fiber of the crop.
Conditioners typically include two or more elongated parallel rollers, slightly spaced apart from one another. The respective adjacent rollers rotate in opposite directions from one another such that the crop is fed through the gap between the two rollers. The rollers are typically made of steel, but with a rubber, elastomer or other compressible surface or coating around the circumference. The roller surface typically has raised intermeshing portions to further the gripping or crimping of the crop. Other conditioners use impact style rotors with outwardly extending projections to further assist in the crimping of the crop.
Conditioners or conditioning equipment may be operated as stationary equipment, mobile equipment, or combined with crop harvesting or swathing equipment.
During conditioning, the flow of the crop between the primary rollers varies and it is very difficult to therefore achieve a sufficiently consistent crushing or conditioning, especially in applications in which the rollers are slightly spaced apart. If a lower volume of crops is passing through, there may be wholly insufficient pressure applied to accomplish acceptable conditioning. Too large of a volume of crop may likewise create mechanical problems, as will other objects such as rocks, debris and the like.
Conditioners are operated in a relatively harsh environment in the field and every joint, seal, mechanism, mechanical part and connection is a potential reliability and maintenance problem.
Further, a significant problem for many years has been the inability for the conditioners to pass a slug (i.e. a compacted mass of crop, dirt and/or other material), or other debris which seem to regularly become lodged between the rollers. When a typical prior conditioner receives a slug or other debris which cannot be passed through the rollers due to its size or other factors, the conditioners have to be stopped and the problem must generally be manually removed by turning the rollers in reverse, or worse. This results in substantial down time and the expense associated with down time.
Slugs or debris, such as hay balls, stringy wet hay, or too much hay too fast, cause significant problems. The clogging of the conditioner requires the operator to clear the slugs or debris to allow them to pass on the own. If a wad passes on its own, a large amount of unconditioned material also passes with it. When baled, the unconditioned material is not as dry as the rest of the material and can form a hot spot or charred area in bales.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a conditioning system which minimizes the number of joints, mechanisms, mechanical parts, seals, connections and maintenance, while maximizing the reliability of the conditioner. This invention accomplishes these objectives by providing a bellows to impart a force on a movable roller toward a fixed roller which: does not have a fixed body; has unrestricted instantaneous response; provides variable loading angles; does not require or use mating mechanical parts which are much more likely to fail; and which does not require a piston, shaft or seals.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a conditioning system through which larger than expected objects may pass without substantially damaging the conditioner, which breaks the objects into pieces so the pieces may be passed through, and which helps keep the slugs or objects from forming. This invention accomplishes this object by providing a movable roller mounted on a pivot arm. While a significant force may be imparted on, or applied to, the movable roller to a fixed roller, the movable roller may retract under circumstances where a greater force is applied the opposite direction.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a conditioning system which substantially reduces the drying time of the conditioned crops.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a versatile conditioner, such that depending on the application, two, three, four or more rollers may be used in combination to condition the crop.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a conditioner which may be installed on existing equipment as a retrofit, or installed on new equipment.
It is yet another object to provide a conditioning system wherein the rollers or roller sleeves destroy certain slugs or wads attempting to pass through the conditioning system. This system accomplishes this object by providing a compressible roller sleeve with a base surface and a plurality of raised surfaces or raised platforms. The two interacting roller sleeves with these surfaces have the advantage of destroying or breaking up many of the wads or slugs which attempt to pass through the conditioning system.
The prior art discloses intermeshing rollers wherein the higher raised portions interact or intermesh with one another, which has the disadvantage of not allowing slugs, wads and other debris to pass through.
It is believed that this invention has the additional advantage of requiring less horse power than prior conditioners.
The numerous advantages and resulting savings in cost and time from this invention are therefore obvious and easily recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art.